Piston and piston ring



April 1936. c. w. HEPFINGER 2,036,632

PISTON AND PISTON RING Filed March 1, 1935 13 21 J 3 A I 4 grvue'ntot 2 8 C. WHepfzlnger Patented Apr. 7, 1936 2,036,632

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PISTON AND PISTON RING Clayton W. Hepfinger, Euclid, Ohio, assignor of ooriei-fourth to Norton McGimn, Cleveland,

Application March 1, 1935, Serial No. 8,902

1 Claim. (01. sue-42) This invention relates to pistons and piston of the halves 8 and 9 of the ring I. The inner rings, and has for its main object to provide a ends of the plunger pins I2 are slidably mounted piston and rings therefor, which rings are made and supported in radially extending tubes of a in semi-circular halves for convenient assembling cross-member l5 which is arranged within the 5 and replacement, and thereby permit the use of piston. The cross-member I5 is formed by a 5 heavier rings constructed of non-resilient matetube l6, to which is welded as indicated at IT a rial. pair of short tubes as l8. For forcing the plunger Another object of the invention is to provide pins l2 outwardly, coiled springs 19 are enclosed a piston and rings therefor, in which the halves in the tubes i6 and I8 of the cross-member I5 10 of the rings are resiliently held against the wall and interposed between the inner ends of said 10 of the cylinder-in complete annular contact to plunger pins and a'plug 20 in said tube IGor prevent leakage but with a minimum of friction. closed inner ends 2| of the tubes l8. Theouter With the above and other objects in view, the ends of the tubes l6 and I8 of the cross-member invention will be hereinafter fully described with IS are out of contact with or in spaced relation reference to the accompanying drawing illustratto the piston, and said. cross-member is suping the same, and the novel features thereof will ported by the piston due to the plunger pins l2 be distinctly pointed out in the appended claim. passing through the wall thereof.

In the drawing similar characters of reference In the modification of the ring as in Fig. 6, are used to designate corresponding parts. each half is split longitudinally as on the line 22 Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a piston and therefore one part 23 is super-imposed upon with piston ring and means for resiliently holdthe other part 24, and the joints as at 25'are ing same in contact with the wall of the cylinstraddled relative to each other.

der constructed according to my invention, From the drawing and description, it will be Fig. 2 is a plan sectional view taken on line seen that the piston ring according to this inven- 25 2-2 of Fig. 1, tion may be made much heavier than those used 5 Fig. 3 is an elevation or outer side view of the in general practice due to being in semi-circular 8, halves and therefor being easily assembled or re- Fig. 4 is a plan view of one of the halves of the placed, that such rings may be constructed of ring, non-resilient material, and that the rings will.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, be held in resilient contact with the cylinder wall 0 illustrating the ring and a plunger pin, and without undue friction but suificient to prevent Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 3 illustrating a leakage. l pair of super-imposed rings instead of a single It will be understood that minor details of conr struction may be made within the scope of the 5 Referring to the drawing, I represents a piston claim. I

for an automobile engine and having in its wall 2 Having fully described my invention, what I an annular groove 3 of suitable width for accom claim is: modating a ring indicated as a whole by 4. Said In a piston and ring, the combination of a pisring is constructed of any suitable material and ton, the piston having a ring groove, semi-cir- 40 its outer surface is undercut at 5 thereby leaving cular sections of a ring arranged in said groove, 40 a pair of contact surfaces 6 and I. Said ring 4 pins slidably supported in the piston and engagconsists of a pair of semi-circular halves indiing said sections of the ring, a tubular crosscated by 8 and 9, and preferably joined on an member, the cross-member being formed of a angle as at H). Each of the halves of the ring tube, short tubes fixed to the opposite outer sides 4 is made of non-resilient or rigid material, and of the first mentioned tube and central thereof, they are resiliently forced radially or outwardly a plug in the first mentioned tube, said pins being against the wall of the cylinder by the mechaslidably mounted in the outer ends of said tubes nism now to be described. of the cross-member, and coiled springs enclosed At a plurality of equally spaced points, the. wall in said tubes of the cross-member adapted to 2 of the piston at a position opposite and central force said pins outwardly against said sections of the groove 3 is provided with openings H for Y ofsaid ring.

receiving plunger'pins i 2 having a slightly round- CLAYTON W. HEPFINGER. ing outer end ii for engaging the inner side I 4 

